Eduardo González
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, announced today that the recognition of the Palestinian State will not take place in the Council of Ministers on May 21, as had been announced, in order to be able to coordinate with other countries to achieve joint recognition.
“It will not be next Tuesday, it will be in the following days,” Sánchez declared in an interview with La Sexta. This delay, he specified, is due to the Government’s efforts to coordinate “with other countries” in order to “be able to make a joint declaration and recognition.”
Likewise, he assured that throughout the weekend he will address this issue with the second vice president, Yolanda Díaz, and hopes to be able to close the “last details”, so that, during his next appearance in the Congress – which will take place on Wednesday to address, among other issues, Spain’s policy towards the Middle East -, will now be “in a position to clarify the day on which Spain will recognize the Palestinian State.”
Last week, the High Representative for Foreign Policy of the EU, Josep Borrell, leaked, during an interview on RNE, that the Minister of Foreign Affairs himself, José Manuel Albares, had confirmed to him that the day of recognition would be May 21 . The same date had been announced by public television in Ireland, one of the countries that are going to recognize Palestine along with Spain, Norway, Slovenia and Malta (and possibly even Belgium).
On April 10, the UN General Assembly approved (with 143 votes in favor, out of a total of 193 members) a resolution co-sponsored by Spain, Ireland, Norway and Belgium for Palestine to become a full State of United Nations. Among the countries that voted against were the US, Israel, Argentina, Hungary and the Czech Republic.
